User blog:Mlp Soarin/Halp! I'm Drowinin'! (Or, Interacting With AppleJack)
Hey, y’all! AppleJack here, just wantin’ to say a few words. As the #TwitterPonies keep gettin’ bigger and bigger, it’s becomin’ real hard for me to keep up with it all! But seein’ as I got a reputation as the unofficial Ponyville Welcome Wagon (not to mention the loyalest o’ friends and most dependable o’ ponies), folks often expect me to be accomodatin’. Now I don’t mind that reputation a-tall. Ah love makin’ new friends! But I reckon my own enjoyment of the RP is important too, if I’m gonna keep on doin’ it. So I figure the time has come for me to “set a few boundaries,” as the eggheads like to say. First Off: A Little Patience Goes a Long Way I get a lot o’ ponies (and plenty o’ things that ain’t ponies) tryin’ to get my attention all the time. I mean, a lot. More than you’d ever see just lookin’ at my responses. But as my big brother is so fond o’ remindin’ me, I’m just one pony, and I can only type so fast with these hooves. If you send me an @-mention and I don’t answer right away, then you send me a huffy mention two minutes later complainin’ that I didn’t answer, then send me another one two minutes after that gripin’ about bein’ ignored? Well, we just ain’t gonna get along, sugar cube. I don’t deliberately ignore anypony that I feel is tryin’ to meet me halfway. But I do block ponies that have been nasty to me. You wouldn't believe how often I've seen this in my @-mentions: : @mlp-fragile_ego (2 minutes ago): hey applejack : @mlp-fragile_ego (2 minutes ago): i said hey applejack @mlp-fragile_ego (2 minutes ago): r u there @mlp-fragile_ego (1 minute ago): im talking to u @mlp-fragile_ego (1 minute ago): falls over starts bleeding ow applejack @mlp-fragile_ego (1 minute ago): y wont u talk 2 me : @mlp-fragile_ego (30 seconds ago): u hate me dont u @mlp-fragile_ego (1 second ago): fuck u bitch Don't be that guy. Second Off: If I -Do- Start Ignoring You, Back Off! I get irked at folks sometimes. It happens. Usually my first course of action is to just let ‘em stew for a bit ‘cause I don’t feel like dealin’ with ‘em. The worst thing you can possibly do in that situation, is to keep pokin’ me. ‘cause I’m just gonna get more and more annoyed. And as a general rule, I don’t fight with people-- I just block and ignore. If I have responded to you in the past, and you notice me stop answerin’ for some reason, the best thing for you to do is to just leave me alone for a few days, or until I come back and respond to you. I'm Not Going to Follow You Just Because You Ask Me To I would guess that at least twice a day I get some variation of "follow me plz", usually by a non-RP account. My answer is always the same: "Sorry, but Ah can only follow a handful of RP accounts or Ah get overwhelmed." My feed is chock-o-block already with manes, alts, OCs, and so on. I can hardly keep up as it is! I'm not gonna go around following OOC accounts, audience members, or just random people who want to have AppleJack on their followers list for whatever reason. A flipside of this is that when we're interacting, at the cart for example, I pretty much watch @-mentions and respond to those. So unless you know for a fact that I'm following you already, assume I won't see something you post unless you mention me in it. And don't ask me to follow you, please. I won't do it. If/when I follow people, it's for reasons of my own. Unofficial Official Accounts One of the rules of TwitterPonies is that "there are no official accounts." There's nothing to stop you from making your own Rainbow Dash/Derpy Hooves/Twilight Sparkle/other popular pony account and goin' to town with it. That's a rule of TwitterPonies. AppleJack has her own subset of rules. I cannot and don't want to try to keep separate headcanon for dozens of versions of characters. "My" mane cast, other than AJ herself, consists of @mlp_Rainbow, @mlp_Fluttershy, @mlp_Pinkie, @mlp_Rarity, @mlp_Twilight, @mlp_Spike, @mlp_Celestia, @mlp_Luna, with the extended cast of @mlp_AppleBloom, @mlp_Sweetie, @mlp_Scoots, @mlp_BigMcIntosh, @mlp_GrannySmith, and @mlp_Soarin. For those characters, most "multiplayers" are going to be ignored, or possibly treated as visitors from an alternate universe, which Ponyville seems to get on a semi-regular basis. It's nothing bad about players who want to make their own versions of those characters, it's purely for my own sanity. Other characters, I'm more flexible about. We've had a dozen Braeburns, three or four Gildas, more Ditzy/Derpies than you can shake a stick at, and I've interacted with most or all of 'em. When those versions are in conflict (such as Ditzy Doo/Derpy Hooves) I'll play it by ear and remember what details I can, but don't be surprised (or offended) if I mangle your own personal headcanon of what's happened. The Cart Is the Best Place to Meet Me-- and Meet Other Ponies Too! I run the cart to have a place where I’m “out in the public,” open to meet anypony and everypony who might come my way. It’s true we won’t interact much-- we’ll say our hellos, you’ll get your goodies, and maybe there’ll be a little chitchat-- but you’ll get some big public mentions, become established as “part of Ponyville,” and break the ice between us so maybe we can have other scenes later. It’s also a good place to find other folks to interact with! Watch who I mention and try striking up a conversation with them. Make sure you use @-mentions to make it more likely they’ll see you. (And remember that Twitter hides your posts that begins with an @ symbol from anyone not following both you and the person you’re mentioning.) And please, don’t just say hello to famous ponies. You don’t like your OC or new pony being ignored, right? Well neither does that new player right next to you. Just ‘Cause We’ve Met Doesn’t Make Us BFFs It takes time to establish rapport with a player. Just ‘cause you an’ me have said hello once, or you’ve bought an apple fritter or two, doesn’t mean we’re pals now. We might become pals over time, but that’s just it-- it takes time. And it’s not gonna happen if you cling to me like a leech. ''Please ''don’t follow me all over town, offerin’ to help with every little thing I do or askin’ me a ton o’ questions about what’s goin’ on. That ain’t friendship, that’s you tryin’ to feed offa me, and I won’t put up with it for very long. See also I Can't Do Your Roleplaying For You Sweet Apple Acres Has Business Hours I don’t carry pies around in my saddlebags like some kind o’ walkin’ vending machine! If I’m not at the cart, I cain’t sell you apples. If you want to talk shop, like some kind o’ catering order or whatnot, that might be fine. But if I’m in the middle of a race with Rainbow Dash an’ you just walk up and start askin’ for fritters? I’m gonna think you’re nuts. On a related note, Sweet Apple Acres ain’t a restaurant. We like to have visitors, and we’re prone to invitin’ our friends in for a little somethin’ to eat. But if we get the idea that you’re just pokin’ around at breakfast or dinner time lookin’ for a free meal, well... let’s just say Granny Smith wields a mean cane. And finally, please, please, please don’t just show up at or around Sweet Apple Acres in the middle of the night! This has become a real problem lately-- I cain’t tell you how many times I’ve stepped out onto the porch at midnight and suddenly been swarmed with twenty ponies wanting my attention. It’s reached the point where I’ve decided on a “two pony limit.” Once two or more ponies have showed up unexpectedly at SAA in the middle of the night, I’m just going to stop responding to any others. It just plain don’t make sense for a farm, on the edge of a small town, to have tons of ponies showing up at random, especially in the middle of the night. SAA isn’t on the way to anything, except the Everfree Forest, and it surely don’t make sense for mobs o’ traffic to be goin’ to and from there at all hours. Obviously, this rule don’t apply to Apple family members, AJ’s close friends, or other folk who might have reason to be there. I Don’t Respond to “(( RP Anyone? ))” This has always rubbed me the wrong way. “(( RP anyone? ))” and variations thereof say to me, “I”m bored and I want you to come entertain me!” So if I see this kind of message, I'm not going to answer it. "(( Open for RP ))" is much better: it sends the message that you're okay on your own, but willing to be approached if someone wants to. I Don’t Respond to “*sees AppleJack, doesn’t say anything*” This is one I get a lot: : @mlp_PassiveAggressive: *spots @mlp_applejack, thinks about saying hello but doesn’t* Well okay. You just flagged me down to tell me you didn’t say hello to me. Fine. I didn’t say hello to you, either. I also didn’t tap-dance, juggle bowling balls, or whistle Dixie. What’s your point? If you want me to interact with you, you have to give me a reason. People "don't say hello to me" all the time, why should I notice when you don’t? Just pony up and say hello, or don’t mention me. I Don't Interact w/ R34 Characters I woulda thought this one was obvious, but apparently it ain't, so: I'm a purely PG player and will not interact with R34 characters. For that matter, I pretty much only interact with #TwitterPonies on a regular basis. I might do shout-outs to non-RP accounts or things of that nature once in a while, but I'm only going to be doing scenes with other characters who are explicitly in the #TwitterPonies RP. I've got no beef with Ponitwitter, EpicPonies, R34 ponies, or any other group that I'm aware of. I hope they all have fun doing their thing. I'm just not interested. ^.^ I'm playin' the game I want to play already and plan to concentrate on that. Check With Me First Before You Go Scene-Smashing If you see me interactin’ with somepony already, it’s pretty rude to just barge in, especially if you’re doing some kinda OTT thing. If I’m happily chatting away at the cart and you show up saying “*kicks over the cart, stomps on all the food, steals AJ’s hat, and runs away, giggling*” I’m more likely to just ignore you completely than to pull out the lasso and go chasing you. Anything that forces me to react in some extreme way, I call scene-smashers. And I’m particularly resistant to having my scenes smaished. So don’t just drop housefires, bleeding ponies, unexpected pies-in-the-face etc. in my lap, please. I don’t take kindly to them. If you want to do some kind of big, crazy scene, DM or (( OOC )) me about it! If you work with me, I’m a lot more likely to play along. You’re Not My Brother. Or My Husband. Or My Parents. The Apple family is big and has a lot of room for cousins, aunts, uncles, and so forth. If you’d like to play a member of the Apple family, contact me about it beforehand and I’ll try to accommodate you. But please don’t just declare yourself to be some relation o’ mine and expect me to go along with it. Also, my close family is well established: @mlp_bigmcintosh is my (only) brother. @mlp_applebloom is my (only) sister. @mlp_grannysmith is my (only surviving) grandmother. Until the family reunion episode the "TP canon" was that my parents live in Manehattan; if/when this comes up in the RP, I'll probably go with Lauren Faust's headcanon that they are deceased. In any case, these things aren’t negotiable. A few ponies have harbored crushes on me. That’s out o’ my hooves, so to speak, and it can be kinda nice in its own way. Some of y’all have been downright sweet. But I’ll tell you right up front, I’m not gonna be ‘shipping with you. Anypony claiming to be in a ‘ship with me, unless I’ve specifically said otherwise, is gonna be blocked. (Secret: @mlp_magnificent, who AJ was quasi-shipping with? I was playing him. He was created for a specific story purpose and is a supporting character, not a true "alt" so to speak.) Space Aliens, Walking Dead Ponies, R2-D2, Time-Displaced Copies of Myself Is it so much to ask that people play ponies? Plain ol’ MLPFIM ponies? >.< The #TwitterPonies RP has a lot of crazy stuff floating around in it. Some of these crazy things I’ve interacted with, because I thought there was a lot of comic potential, or because I knew the player behind it and was willing to stretch things for them, etc. But it’s always tricky, always scene-smashey, and usually toxic to the RP if not carefully handled and contained. Most of the time, it’s just better not going there a-tall. So if you create My Little Autobot and come tromping up to the cart one day, please don’t be surprised or offended that I don’t respond. If you strike me as a potentially good player who’s just going a direction I don’t want to go, I might send you an (( OOC )) response to the effect of “I don’t want to play with this character. I’ll be happy to interact if you create a pony.” Now I cain’t control what you play and don’t want to. I’m just sayin’: if you want to make @mlp_godzilla, you go right ahead and I hope you have fun. I just won’t be joining you. So How About Some Good Examples? Glad you asked, sugar cube! Here are some ponies who’ve really impressed me with their excellent RP and I’m always glad to interact with them. If you want to spend a lot o’ time with AppleJack, you could do worse than follow their examples: *@mlp_alberio: Alberio started out as “just another OC” who had dreams o’ becoming a knight. And he made a lot of classic “newbie” blunders, from swarming manes to smashing scenes. But he also listened and worked with other players over time, took it slow, and persisted. Now he’s just about AppleJack’s best “non-mane-six” friend, just by virtue of being a good player. *@mlp_redgala: Red Gala was the first Apple cousin I interacted with, and she wasn’t Red Gala at first. I don’t recall what her original name was now, but she contacted me and said, “I’d like to play a member of the Apple family, is that okay?” We looked through the family members established by the show and worked out some details about what Red Gala was like, and then the next day she joined the family and we had a lot of fun. Sadly, the character’s more or less retired now, but she’ll always be my high-water mark for a well-done Apple cousin. *@mlp_Plotline: Everything I said about Alberio is true of Plotline too, from the "newbie" blunders to the learning to do it right. He's a generous and creative player who works with other players to build up scenes, rather than simply feeding off what's presented to him and demanding more attention. He's always ready to jump in if he's asked, but he's also just as ready to jump back out again if he's not actually contributing anything to a given scene. *@mlp_italian: Now here’s a fun character with an interesting talent! He popped up at the cart one day and asked me for an appointment to buy some land for his olive orchards and vineyards. He helped me do worldbuilding with AppleJack (by establishing the Apple family’s role as stewards of the royal lands around Ponyville), he created a new resource for everyone in Ponyville (the Grapes and Olives restaurant ), and he’s always a lot of fun to play with. (“Not-- La Morta De Pasta!”) By my standards, @mlp_italian gets an A+! Thanks, Everypony I think I’ve just about covered everything here... if somethin’ else comes to me, I’ll add it in later. Notice that all of these “rules” are just for me: they establish who I will and won’t RP with and why. I cain’t make rules for anypony else! Like I’ve said before, play what you want and have fun. But if you want me to RP with you, hopefully this post will help show you the way. Category:Blog posts